‘Deadpool’ Is Now the Highest Grossing R-Rated Movie Worldwide

While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice certainly had a good weekend at the box office, it’s good news for superhero movies all around. Deadpool demolished all expectations in February as the R-rated superhero pic opened to a massive $132.4 million—huge not just for an R-rated movie, but for a non-sequel, non-famous IP property—and now the film has crossed another box office milestone. This past weekend saw Deadpool hit an astounding worldwide gross of $745.9 million, which solidifies its status as the highest grossing R-rated movie worldwide.

Many figured this record was a possibility as Deadpool seemingly could not be stopped, continuing to add serious money weekend after weekend, and now it’s official as the Merc with a Mouth as surpassed The Matrix Reloaded’s previous record haul of $742 million worldwide.

Image via 20th Century Fox

Again, this is impressive for a number of reasons, especially given that Deadpool wasn’t an adaptation of something that was already massively popular to general audiences nor a sequel. I’d go so far as to consider Tim Miller’s comics adaptation a semi-original film given that the tentpole landscape is almost exclusively franchise material, ranging from sequels to reboots of already popular/widely known properties. The gamble on Fox’s part, to go with an R-rated adaptation of this foul-mouthed, non-kid-friendly, fourth-wall-breaking character cannot be overstated, and boy did the perseverance of Miller, star Ryan Reynolds, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick over the years pay off. One imagines they’ll all be heavily compensated for their presumed work on the inevitable Deadpool 2.

On the domestic chart, Deadpool still sits at #3 as far as R-rated grosses go. Its $349.4 million haul is just a hair short of American Sniper’s $350.1 million gross, while The Passion of the Christ continues to reign supreme with $370.7 million.

All in all, 2016’s slate of superhero movies is off to a smashing start—box office-wise, at least—so it’ll be interesting to see how the year progresses, and if audiences start to feel a bit of fatigue from the genre as the months wear on. Two down, four to go.

COLLIDER participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COLLIDER gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.